2013 Summary

We had an eventful year. We have a lot to be grateful for. This is a long list for me to remember and read when I am pouting about who-knows-what. Feel free to read it if you want to.

-We all turned a year older, including Daniel hitting the big 3-0. The presents he received made up for the fact that I normally don't get him anything. An iPad and Lasik. Both life-changing. I frequently forget that he can see now when he wakes up in the morning.

-I paid off all my student loans from graduate school.

-We said good-bye to my youngest brother Matt, who is serving a 2 year LDS mission in Idaho. The decision to serve others and try to bring happiness into their lives through the Gospel of Jesus Christ is incredibly difficult and unselfish.

-We were relatively healthy all year, besides the typical colds and flus that come along.

-I met up with some of my nearest and dearest girlfriends in Chicago for a wonderful weekend away. Got to have another mini-girls weekend during Melissa's wedding in Utah.

-We visited Boston

-We visited Austin. First family road-trip and it went pretty well. Thank goodness for DVD players and mini-vans. And DVD players in mini-vans.

-We hosted several visitors in Utah: my parents, Carolyn, Meredith & Weston, Alicia, and the whole Nielson family for Thanksgiving. Then we got to see a lot more close friends and family who made special efforts to see us during their Utah trips: Carrie, the Gessells, the Cottles, the Johnsons, the Dunns, the Singers, the Moss', Margaret, and the Bennett-Kimballs. It means a lot to me to get to see these people.

-We got to spend lots of time with people we love who live in Utah- the Salazars, Faucettes, Sullivans and Gaines family. It is very important to me that my kids know and love their relatives, so it is especially significant that my girls spend so much time with Hillary and Ben in this last year before the Salazars leave Utah.

-We bought our first house. Sometimes I still sit in our house and can't believe I own it. I never imagined I could own a house like it. I mean, a garage door opener?!? I have never lived in a house with a garage that people actually parked cars in, let alone a garage door opener. Along with that came more exciting purchases like a washer and dryer that actually work, lawn-mower, ladder, etc. All thrilling possessions.

-Sadie started, and is thriving in preschool.

-Elise started being tended by a friend from our previous neighborhood. This friend is a better mom than I could ever hope to be. That tends to be my criteria for babysitters/daycare. Could I never compete with them in the mothering department? Okay, they are hired. Just yesterday when I arrived to pick her up there were several loaves of hot homemade bread coming out of the oven. Elise was in different clothes because she soaked herself when Shelby allowed her to "help" with the dishes. (Something I rarely do because I don't want to clean up the mess made all over the counters and floors)

-I got an unexpected and significant salary raise. Granted, it was because UVU went through their thousands of employees, identified the most severely underpaid and gave them raises, but it is still very much appreciated. Accepting this job 5 1/2 years ago over several other, higher-paying jobs continues to be one of the best decisions I have ever made.

-We found out we are expecting our third little girl. This pregnancy has not been fun but, interestingly, I am more excited to meet BG3 (baby girl 3) than I was in my other pregnancies. I think about her and what she is going to be like a lot. Holding my 3 month old niece Adelaide yesterday made me even more excited. The slight smell of spit-up is nostalgic for me.

-We found out that our little girl is going to have 2 cousins the exact same age (twins!!! due exactly 6 weeks after) I am also grateful that I get to be the aunt of the twins and not the mom. Love you, Meredith. We'll find out their genders in a few weeks. I see lots of matching cousins outfits on the horizon.

-Daniel got a new job. His previous job at UVU was fine, but after 4 seasons he was ready for a change. Daniel was very close to getting a different job earlier in the summer and it was a definite hit to his ego when he didn't get the offer since he was absolutely the best candidate. (You know that is true since I don't offer many compliments to Daniel) Well, we are all happy now because he got a better job--in more ways than one-- back at BYU in August. He has enjoyed it. Of course it helps that they are 12 and 1 on the season so far, but again, we feel very blessed Daniel has a great job.

I am little nervous for 2014 because I think it will be tough to come down off a year like we just had. Good thing we are adding another person to our family. One more crazy kid is more important than any house or trip we could take.

Simply Having A Wonderful Christmastime

We had a nice quiet Christmas. 

On Christmas Eve Daniel spent the morning cleaning our house and running last minute Christmas present errands. I think I laid around doing nothing? I did some dinner prep. That afternoon we headed to the local dollar theater to see Despicable Me 2.  Elise was loud and restless but it didn't matter much since the theater was mostly filled with families with young children. It was a bit distracting when Elise dumped out 2/3 of a box of candy and it rolled down the sloped theater floor. 

We came home from the movie and ate a delicious dinner of enchiladas, slowcooker refried beans and cilantro lime rice. Sadie was anxious to get to bed so that Santa would come. I got the last few presents put together and set up while Daniel put Sadie's bike together. It has a tiny seat on the bike to strap dolls into. That part took Daniel the longest. Around 10 o'clock that night Sadie came out of her room and yelled at us to go to bed so that Santa would come. 

Christmas morning the girls actually slept in until past 7 o'clock. Sadie came running in and announced that she thought Santa had come but she did not go downstairs. She is a faithful rule follower when it comes to Santa. Elise was angry and disheveled. We have her on video declaring she didn't want presents and Santa. Her tune changed drastically when she hit the bottom of the stairs. The girls were spoiled, as usual, and we somehow found a way to own even more Disney princess items. 

 I woke up around 5:30 AM not feeling too hot but I hoped it was maybe just excitement about Christmas. As we watched the girls open presents I felt worse and worse. My stomach held off until the last present was opened before I spent the rest of the day with a stomach flu. 5 months pregnant with a stomach flu on Christmas is just unfair. No delicious Christmas dinner that I had planned. I laid in bed and slept and occasionally read the hilarious Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan. Daniel kept the girls away from me all day and while it wasn't fun being sick it was kind of nice, in a way.

The next morning we opened presents from Hillary and Ben, who had spent Christmas with Ben's family. They had us in the John family rotation this year and they really spoiled us. The girls got Jasmine and Mulan costumes (which have been worn non-stop), Aladdin the movie, a toy vacuum, and a trip to the Disney Store. They got Daniel some amazing headphones and me the world's fanciest crockpot. 

We are feeling so content and blessed in our lives. Sadie told me it was the best Christmas ever and I agree.
We are looking forward to the next baby girl's arrival in just 4 short months! 

December Randoms

Our local Walmart carries a wide variety of Carvel ice cream cakes. Fletcher family tradition. I may have to purchase one soon. Or maybe we should do that in February, mom? Your birthday celebration??

After Daniel's games Elise generally lays down on the court and whines to random strangers until he is done.

 Sadie wrote Daniel an encouraging note last Saturday before his game. I think she was feeling bad about the previous week's double OT loss to Utah. It says "Yes, you, BYU" She thought of, and wrote it, completely by herself.

 Lou enjoyed a John family tradition- cinnamon toast dipped in hot chocolate.

 The girls love to play with my jewelry. Sadie has now memorized where I got every piece of jewelry I own. A few pieces are from grandmothers, but most of it is just crappy stuff from the store. Her favorite pieces are from my grandmother (Grammie), who Sadie is named after.

Elise's new thing is climbing on top of our play kitchen. She stands up there and throws each food item or tea set piece individually to the floor.

In The Spirit

We did a few things after Thanksgiving that were Christmas-themed and in the past couple weeks we have done a few more.

In John family tradition Sadie painted some wooden ornaments. I think each ornament now has about 10 layers of paint, as she keeps telling me she needs to paint them again. 

We attended Sadie's school Christmas party. They have a school-wide party and a class party. This time Sadie told Santa she wanted a Jasmine doll. She also performed songs she learned in Music class. Elise insisted on standing with her.

Sadie wrote a letter to Santa asking for Jasmine doll for herself and a Mulan doll for Elise. She now thinks that because she asked Santa in person and wrote a letter she is guaranteed to get that doll.

I went and helped out with Sadie's class Christmas pj party. I am so sad that this picture came out so blurry since I never remember to take pictures with my kids and this one is actually cute.

Also not pictured: our completely dead tree. We know now for certain that no matter how recently it looks like the trunk has been trimmed we need to trim more off before we set up the tree. Our current tree just hasn't absorbed any water. It died a few days ago. The branches are hanging lower and lower. We cannot put any presents under the tree. They are placed around the tree.

Merry Christmas!

Ice Cream Date

Last week we went on a family date to get ice cream. What do you know, it was fun. No tears. No whining. Just cuteness and delicious treats. Maybe some day we will be able to go out in public regularly and have this same experience?

First Flu

For the first time ever we had a kid with a bad stomach flu. Maybe it's the karma from all the spitting up Sadie did in the first 15 months of her life, but we just have never had many stomach issues. Usually one barf and done. 

Elise finally broke that streak by throwing up 9 times in 3 1/2 hours. Poor girl had no idea what was going on. After 2 barfs she was still kind of running around and asking for food. I had to force her to stay on the blanket-covered couch. Barf #3 seemed to bring some sort of understanding. She just laid on the couch and occasionally told me she was sleepy. At the beginning of our third movie she told me she wanted to go to bed and she dragged her beloved blankie upstairs. I was convinced I would be cleaning throw up within 15 minutes, but that poor sick girl slept 12 hours and woke up ready to face the next day.

First Snow

We got our first real snow storm a couple weeks ago. Sadie was excited to play in it. 

She has since declared, almost daily, that she hates snow.

The Christmas Card Pictures That Never Were

I realized some time in November that we never took any kind of family pictures in 2013, and thus, didn't have a single picture for the Christmas card. I scheduled a Santa session with Foto Fly for the first week of December. They have a set up that I thought would be perfect. The dad dresses up as Santa and poses with the kids. It is only about 10 minutes long and then you have a few good pictures. I found some adorable dresses on sale and even let Sadie pick out her own new purple sparkly shoes.

When we showed up for the session Elise started melting down immediately. Sadie was excited about Daniel dressing up. There were 3 different photo areas with families and photographers in each one and other families awaiting their turn. We waited for about 15 minutes with Elise screaming and Sadie getting increasingly anxious. When it was finally our turn Sadie burst into tears. We tried to calm the girls down but eventually gave up. Not a single picture was taken.

Instead, I attempted to take a few photos with Hillary and Ben's nicer camera. You be the judge on how they turned out.

The only slightly usable one, which ended up on the card, even though it's a bit blurry and the lighting is off:

November Phone Pics

Here is a random assortment of other stuff from November

1. Probably the most exciting event. One of my best friends from college, Melissa, got married. And two of my other best friends, Julia and Margaret, flew out for the wedding. I got to hang out with some of my best friends as we watched another friend on the happiest day of her life. I basically had a mini stay-cation that weekend and completely avoided any responsibility with my kids. Congrats Mel and Jonathon!

2. Attended several of Daniel's games. Sadie loves Cosmo. Elise loves snacking during the games.

3. One afternoon Sadie told me she was going to write notes to Dad for him to find in his scriptures. This was my favorite note. It looks like a threat, or at the very least, an evil wish, but then you can see that she was writing her name next to "dad" and ran out of room so she finished below.

4. I took a picture of Sadie's preschool class picture so I knew we'd have a preserved copy of it. It was like $50 extra if you wanted a DVD copy of pictures. That little boy to the left of Sadie is named Crew and is apparently one of her best friends at school.

5. The girls played together. I love hearing them giggle together. Like in that first photo when I found them together in Elise's crib one morning, watching a show on the iPad.

Thanksgiving

Almost as soon we knew we were buying our house I started begging the Nielson family to come for Thanksgiving. I had grand ideas of how fun it would be. Even after I was pregnant and super sick I pictured this great week with lots of fun activities. Well, I was pretty much tired and lame the entire time, but we did get to have everyone at our house. We managed to squeeze in some fun around my grumpiness. Daniel, unfortunately, was gone both at the beginning and end of the trip. Such is life during basketball season.

The girls loved all the attention

On Wednesday had a girls afternoon and went shopping for wedding dresses for Courtney. Sadie was happy to offer opinions and advice.

Thanksgiving day was great. I did not do a single thing to help. Nothing. Tom and Carolyn prepared the entire meal and then other Nielsons cleaned up.

The morning after Thanksgiving we had another girls' outing to see Frozen. It was Elise's first time in a movie theater and she was absolutely mesmerized.

Saturday morning some people went to hike the Y. I really dislike that hike and the thought of carrying two children up while pregnant was not appealing so I declined. I included this picture to show that James, Courtney's fiance, came to Utah also. Sadie especially loves James, even if she cannot believe that his favorite color is brown.

Saturday afternoon Daniel had a game. We had a big family cheering section since several of Daniel's other relatives attended as well. The Cottles also came. The girls spent the game dancing and got on the jumbotron 3 or 4 times. Since this game Sadie's sole goal is to get on the "big tv" during games and she whines each time she doesn't appear.

 After the game we waited around so we could all go see Santa at the Riverwoods. Sadie was excited to tell Santa that she wanted a princess bike (which she has since changed to a Jasmine doll-too late) and Elise wanted nothing to do with him.

After the visit to Santa we grabbed some dinner, AKA the three kids ran around while the adults shoved dinner down our throats.
 We allowed the girls to ride the carousel one time and then headed home. Luckily Lexie thought to take a picture to prove that we actually spent some time together.

Sunday evening we went to the lights at Temple Square. The girls started off excited and then quickly melted down. Sadie tripped and hurt her knee. Elise didn't care about lights and wanted to throw leaves into fountains. That picture below is the best family photo we could get of the night. The girls trying to dive into the fountain with floating lights. The worst part was the drive home. Initially both girls were screaming, but then it turned into Sadie shrieking about hating everything and everyone, intermixed with random ear-piercing screams, until we were about 3 minutes from home. That's when she fell asleep.

Looking back over the week as I wrote this post I realize that we did much more than I originally thought. One of those nights (Saturday maybe?) we also went to a late showing of Catching Fire. Half-way through the movie Daniel leans over and tells me he had already seen the movie with his team on a roadtrip. The day everyone left we got a decent amount of snow, which made their drive to the airport extra fun.

Thank you so much for coming everyone! I will try to be more fun the next time you see me!